Verbose Tuesday

The Civic Day long weekend is now over! I have a very busy yet exciting work week coming up. This morning I have been working on Kristin’s custom wedding favour Glo Bars. I will also be working on the Healthy Living Summit Glo Bars and getting caught up on my orders, stock ordering, and a few other fun projects. Like last year, I am donating Glo Bars for all of the swag bags in the Healthy Living Summit. It is going to be a wild week!

For those of you who missed out on Friday, I have added a few more batches of Gluten-free + Raw Liberate Glo bars to the shopping cart!

Great discussion going on in last night’s post. I love reading everyone’s thoughts on the topic!

A couple more questions I received are: 1) When/how much meat is Eric eating? and 2) Is Eric eating dairy?

1) He said he eats meat about 3 times a month. We keep frozen organic meat in the freezer when he buys it and when he gets a craving I will cook him some or he will BBQ a burger for himself. He enjoys a juicy beef burger now and then. He does only buy organic meat after watching Food Inc., but the meat he eats when out is not organic. He goes out for lunch at work 5 days a week and he will have meat maybe once a week with veggie options the other 4 days. He now orders all veggie subs without cheese and mayo. I don’t think he has had a meat sub since he watched Food Inc. Food Inc really changed the way he viewed what he was eating. He also still has not had Coke/pop since March 2010.

2) He slowly cut cheese out of his diet after the doctor told him his LDL cholesterol was high a few years ago. The doc said lay off the cheese, please! Now he eats cheese once in a blue moon (maybe once every 1-2 months). His blood cholesterol levels are awesome now. He also switched from 2% milk to skim milk. Occasionally, he will have ice cream, but he doesn’t buy it to keep in the house anymore like he used to. When it is not in the house, you can’t eat it!

Basically, he told me last night ‘meat and dairy are no longer staples in my diet, but they are occasional indulgences.’

I thought that was a great way of summarizing it! Eric is hoping to write a blog post on the topic at some point in the future. It has been delayed because he is extremely busy with work lately and he has been working overtime 6-7 days a week. When things slow down I am sure he will be happy to talk about it more. =)

One thing is for sure, I have never seen him happier or healthier in the 10-11 years I have been with him. I think he is really amazed at how much an impact a few diet changes have made.

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Last night Eric and I went back outside after dinner and did another hour of pruning!! We can’t be stopped. I don’t know what it is, but I get such a satisfaction from pruning! I have found my calling. I’m sorry I won’t be making Glo Bars any more, the shrubs need me. ;)

After pruning, I was hit with recipe inspiration and I went into the kitchen to make trial one of Homemade Protein Chocolate. I was craving chocolate and I was thinking ‘wouldn’t it be cool to make a protein chocolate?’ and 5 mins. later after scribbling down some ingredient ideas, I was in the kitchen!

Trial one was delicious, but not perfect. I promise to tell you the recipe when it is final!

I got up early to go for a run this morning, but when I got up I found that I was SORE from all the renos and yard work yesterday! I decided to listen to my body and give it more rest. If I feel better tonight I might get out for a run, but if not, I will just wait it out another day.

For some weird reason I was craving cereal for breakfast! I usually have cereal for afternoon snacks, but rarely for breakfast as it never fills me up.

I need to get my boyfriend on the Eric diet! He’s working on it but such a convenience food guy. He doesn’t drink any soda/pop (neither of us do) but definitely too much take out. :) I’ll just keep making your recipes and maybe he’ll come around after he realizes how delicious they are!

I also meant to mention that Eric’s changes took years…a little bit here and a little bit there. When we met he didn’t eat any vegetables. As I said last night I do think small changes add up to something big overtime. I think patience is key. Just like it took me years to beat my ED, it will take other sometimes years to make healthy changes. Never underestimate the power of one small step in the right direction! I find they are addicting because you notice that you feel better and it makes you want to stick with it.

Good advice about the small steps. My husband lives on convenience foods and junk. It’s very frustrating to me (and hard on our budget) and doesn’t set a good example for our son. Maybe I’ve been trying to hard – maybe the small steps are what I need.

Now that I eat vegetarian and a clean diet, we’ve shifted the “chores” in the house. I do all the cooking, meal prep, meal planning, etc. So I also make all of my bf’s breakfasts, lunches, snacks, etc in exchange for him doing all the cleaning in the house. It’s really worked on making us both healthier. He does like eating healthy but preparing food was never a priority for him like it is for me. It works wonderful for our household.

My boyfriend is the same! We live apart right now so when he is on his own, he eats tons of convenience food but when he is with me, he eats healthy. When we are together, he does like helping to make healthy meals, but I think on his own, he lacks the drive and inspiration to do so. He makes an amazing sous-chef. :) This past weekend, I found a stash of pizza boxes at his place and he admitted he was hiding them from me..LOL.

I’m trying to wean my husband off the meat and cheese, too. It’s a slow process, but I know he feels the difference. Last night he told me, “I feel better when I eat healthy,” and I just about passed out.

Eric’s story sounds a lot like my husband’s… we have been married two years and in that time he has started eating and LIKING a lot more vegetables, plus he loves tofu now- he hated it when we met, and he is eating much less meat and we are very conscious about where we buy our milk, eggs, and meat when we buy it- which is very rarely.
Wish I were going to the Summit and was getting one of those bags! Maybe next year :-)

I’m gonna take an early guess, that you will be going to Ireland!? Ha! I’m prolly wrong.
I would love to go to England, Scotland, Ireland.. Ohhh so beautiful..in my future for sure!
I can not wait to get this protein chocolate recipe! Sounds like a healthy indulgence :)
Sounds like Eric has the perfect balance in his diet..especially for a man! :D

I think that sometimes people stick to an unhealthy diet because they don’t know how to improve it or because of the way people around them eat. My boyfriend lives with his parents and they eat lots of meat and white bread. His mother makes salad and he refuses to eat it! But when I make him dinner, it is super healthy, full of whole grains and veggies and he loves it!

I love Nature’s Path cereal! My favourite are the Heritage O’s and the Heritage flakes (kinda boring I know – but they’re really good!)
The chocolate sounds good, I’m curious to hear more! My dad actually made his own chocolates (which I’m pretty sure were protein-amped) when he was trying the Atkins diet years ago. He made a lot of progress, although I’m not sure how much the chocolate had to do with it! Nevertheless, can’t wait to try it! :)

Love how Eric put that – I’m basically the same way…I maybe eat meat 3-4 times in a month…it keeps my grocery bills low (meat is exxxpensive! – not even counting the organic) and I’ve learned that it doesn’t need to be a staple in my diet. I’m still a meat eater but I do try and do so “responsibly”; mostly a delegate meat into the “treat” category – a burger out or any other number of meals out (which I try to keep as a rare occurance – again $$$).

People will ask if I’m vegetarian, and when I say no – they are confused. However, like Eric said – it’s not that I don’t eat meat, it’s just not a staple in my diet. Sometimes my family just doesn’t get it.

Cheese is my one dairy vice – I don’t drink large amounts of dairy (a little skim in my coffee, but that’s it) and eggs rarely find their way into my fridge…but cheese is my one thing. However, that is moderation as well…I don’t sit down and devour an entire wheel of parmesan. haha

Eric’s story actually sounds a lot like my own. Meat is an indulgence as well as dairy. And the crazy thing is – I don’t really miss any of it! I gave up Diet Coke back in March as well and I can say that I am finally over those cravings. Oh how Food Inc has impacted my life and those around me…good good stuff!

My husband is slowly weening himself off of pop and he eats all of the vegetable dishes that I prepare for him! I think its great. I’ve been slowly cutting out meat and eating more beans/nuts/leafy veg for protein, and J is a few steps behind me I think…I hope…

I would love to see a post by Eric, but I totally understand that sometimes work is crazy. Have fun making all of those Glo Bars! It makes me wish I was going to the Healthy Summit!

I’m a ‘recovering vegetarian’ of 15 years as I like to call it, but I still have very strong vegetarian tendencies and my hubby reaps the benefits (?) of them. I prefer to cook veggie dishes and have gotten quite creative. Though I do eat some poultry and pork, I easily could live without it. He probalby only eats meat a few times a month minus whatever he’s eating at lunch (that I don’t know about..haha).

Eric’s eating habbits sound pretty great. It’s so amazing when someone close to us gets inspired and tries to eat healthier. I always feel so proud when my bf craves a salad, or fruit, or some healthy dish I make.

Angela, I love how you said “never underestimate the power of one small step in the right direction!” My bf grumbles a lot about feeling fat & I hate to hear him say that :( I’m hoping that the few good habits he’s already picked up will start to make him feel better..

Congrats to Eric on the changes! My brother-in-law is going through some very similar diet changes right now. Sometimes I think it just takes a little longer for men to come around, but once they do they are completely dedicated.

Cereal doesn’t normally hold me up either, but a loaded bowl like that probably would. :)